Makai felt his eyes widen. “Oh, but—”
“No buts. It’s way too much and unsafe for one man to do by himself, and we have plenty of able bodies in this town. I’m sure the deputies will want to help, at least.”
“He has stitches,” Emil reminded as he struggled to open the protein bar.
Without thinking, Makai held out a hand toward him and took the bar, opened it, and handed it back to Emil. His head felt achy, but not too bad. He assumed it would be expected, having had a building—even a small one—collapse on him.
“Well,” the sheriff grunted. “If you make some food and have beer for everyone, keep them fed and oversee the job, that’d work.”
Makai thought for a moment and decided that it couldn’t hurt, and at least it would be done then.
“Okay. I don’t know where to get a dumpster. Any thoughts?”
“Don’t you worry, I know where to get it. I’ll handle everything we need for it except the food, and bill you later.” There was a small grin on the sheriff’s face, and Makai was all for taking what he could get.
“Sure.” Then a thought occurred to him. “Any ideas on how I’ll get home from here?”
He was starting to get a headache, and he was supposed to tell the nurse that.
“My wife is coming to pick me and Emil up, so you can ride with us if you want to.”
Emil gave Makai a dramatic wide-eyed look that made him chuckle.
“You don’t have to wait for me if this takes a while.” He turned his head and felt dizzy. The headache got worse too. He blinked a couple of times and saw the sheriff get up and leave the room. Then a nurse came in and shined a light into his eyes. “Oww, what…?”
“Yeah, we’re so keeping you overnight, Makai Stone,” she murmured and took his pulse again.
She said something about a doctor coming to see him soon, and he sighed. Fuck. There went any chance of him going home today. That reminded him of the responsibilities he had. He looked at Emil.
“Could you go take care of Mouse and the babies?” he asked, and the nurse who was doing something with his IV froze and then turned to look at him.
“Mouse?”
“She’s a cat,” Makai said, as if that explained everything.
“A gray cat,” Emil added for her benefit. “And of course. I think… weren’t you going to the Target tomorrow? What if…?” He swallowed hard and looked at the soda can in his hands. “What if I take your truck tomorrow and drive here to get you? I want to go to Target too, so….”
The sheriff fidgeted in the seat he’d reclaimed and Makai looked at him.
He didn’t want to ask the man if he was allowed to hang out with his son, but fuck it, the situation was annoying as it was.
He didn’t have to even open his mouth, because Sheriff Newman lifted his hands in surrender and gave them a hint of a smile. “Don’t look at me. Your choice.”
“If you feel comfortable driving the thing, then sure,” Makai told Emil.
They both knew he meant if Emil would feel comfortable inside the vehicle with him for an hour on the way back.
Emil smiled at him briefly. “Yeah, I think I can handle it, as long as it’s stick gear. Never learned to drive automatic.”
“Oh, definitely old enough to be stick,” Makai assured him. Then another spike of the headache made him squeeze his eyes shut. Shit.
“Okay, son. Your mom texted that she’ll be here in twenty minutes and wants to go to Anthony’s for pasta, so we should meet her there.”
Emil tensed, then relaxed again. Makai was pretty sure it was about the food but didn’t ask.
“I’ll see you on… Saturday?” Sheriff Newman asked Makai who belatedly remembered the discussion about tearing down the shed.
“Uh, yeah. Works for me. Eleven?”
